The Fairytale that Never Happened

Chapter Four

It took us over two hours, by my guess, before we finally made it to a suitable village with a healer. Inuyasha headed straight for the healer's hut. Kaede had not woken up once, and it was beginning to worry me. She was still breathing, but it was harsh and labored, like trying to hang on by a thread. It constricted my heart painfully, to think that she might be in any kind of pain. I didn't know what to do, I was beginning to get frantic-

"Kikyou, sh," Inuyasha soothed me, rocking me back and forth. "She's going to be alright. I just dropped her off at the Healer's.''

"But Inuyasha, she's never been hurt in her entire life, I've always made sure of that!" I exclaimed. "Now I've failed her and I'm not sure if she's willing to forgive me!" I wailed.

"Listen to me!" he exclaimed, shaking me. "There is nothing to forgive because you didn't fail her! You protected her the best way you knew how!"

"But Inuyasha I was helpless, I didn't have my arrows and I-"

"Don't women know anything?" he scoffed. "It's not just about weapons, Kikyou, it's about just being there for them and trying. I'm sure she'll 'forgive' you, even though there is nothing to forgive."

I looked up at him. "Y-You think?"

"I don't think, I know." He said gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest.

I smiled and hit him playfully. "That's right, you're the Great InuYasha, you don't have to think."

Inuyasha growled and began tickling me playfully. "Ah, Inuyasha knock it off!" I laughed. "I give! I give!"

The hanyou chuckled and held me closely. "Why don't we go over to the hotspring?"

I laughed. "Inuyasha you pervert," I said jokingly. "Alright."

Inuyasha led me there and we just sat in the hotspring with our clothes on, not caring if we got wet at all.

"Kikyou?" he asked. I turned to look at him.

"Yes, Inuyasha?" I asked.

"I... er..." he sounded frustrated, his fase flushed, as if he were trying to tell me something important.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" I asked soothingly.

"A-Aishiteru... Kikyou," he replied and looked down at the water.

My eyes widened. No one had ever said that to me before. That one word... to change our destinies forever.

"Inuyasha, I..." I whispered, caught breathless for a moment. "Aishiteru."

TBC